SALT LAKE CITY  Figure skating is in big trouble
today. Allegations of corruption are flying through the air like so many triple
toe loops. The sport's believability has never been lower. On the hit parade
of figure skating scandals, Tonya-Nancy was funny. This is not.

I never thought I'd write this sentence, but here goes:
Tonya-Nancy has been eclipsed by another figure skating scandal. Skategate is
bigger. It passed Tonya-Nancy at about 12:30 local time Wednesday, when
International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta had finished throwing
dozens of gallons of kerosene on the fire that is the Olympic pairs scandal.

How bad was Cinquanta's performance at a news conference
called to try to explain what's going on in the Russian-Canadian pairs controversy?
It's been a long time since reporters have seen the leader of a sport look so
out of touch. This quote might shed a little light on the cluelessness of the
man in charge of investigating the biggest judging scandal in skating history:

"I don't know figure skating so well."

I'd like to say I'm making this up, but I'm not.

Cinquanta, an Italian whose background is in speedskating,
not figure skating, was completely out of his league trying to negotiate the
land mines of the Scandal That Ate The Salt Lake City Games. I don't think the
poor guy has a clue about how big this story has become.

Memo to Jacques Rogge and the International Olympic Committee:
Get this guy some help, and fast. Get him a New York PR firm. Buy him a self-help
book. Do something. Cinquanta said the ISU is not going to meet to discuss the
allegations of impropriety on the pairs judging panel until Monday. Are you
kidding me? They're going to let this scandal simmer for five more days before
they meet to review the evidence and make some sort of a decision? They're going
to let this dark cloud continue to grow until it suffocates these Games? Is
this the silliest thing you've ever heard?

Why they didn't hold an emergency meeting of the ISU Council
Wednesday night is beyond me, even if one or two of the members aren't yet in
town. It's in the very best interest of the ISU and figure skating to put an
end to this controversy immediately, although my guess is the allegations are
so severe that even the ISU's decision will create more controversy.

Instead, Cinquanta elongated the scandal to reach into
the Games' second week, at the very least. And now that the Canadians have fired
off two new appeals at the ISU, one asking for an independent investigation
and the other appealing the decision that denied Jamie Sale and David Pelletier
the gold medal, this story easily could stretch into March. Who taught the crisis
management class Cinquanta attended, Neville Chamberlain?

This scandal is bigger than Tonya and Nancy because it
cuts to the very heart of the integrity of a sport. Can you trust this sport
to come up with a fair decision? As of today, the answer is no. Ice dancing,
with its notorious bloc judging, won't be a competition. It will now be a circus.
Because of the way Cinquanta and Co. are handling this mess, athletes will suffer.
Already, gold medalists Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze are being treated
as pariahs at these Games. When they were introduced at the Medal Awards Ceremony
Tuesday night, they were greeted by an uneasy silence. When Sale and Pelletier
were called up, the crowd went crazy.

Soon, ice dancing will crown its champion. And my guess
is that that victory will be tainted by this scandal as well. If this isn't
the Olympic spirit, I don't know what is.

The ISU is in way over its head. Just take a look at the
way Cinquanta handled the question of the hour, the one thing everyone wants
to know: If the ISU finds that the allegations of cheating on the judging panel
are true, will Sale and Pelletier receive the gold medal?

At first, Cinquanta said no way. Then he said, "It's almost
unheard of that this would be done." And, finally, this: "In the ISU regulations,
it's not printed that a result cannot be changed."